Dr. Milena Esherick is a licensed clinical psychologist with expertise in the areas of eating disorders and substance abuse. She is the former Program Director of El Camino Hospital's Intensive Eating Disorders Treatment Program - a partial hospitalization program for adults with severe eating disorders, mood, and anxiety disorders. In her role as Director, she facilitated groups for clients and their families, and she provided individual and couples therapy. Her approach to therapy integrates family systems, psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, narrative, and solution-focused interventions.

Dr. Esherick's dissertation research was a qualitative analysis of the recovery stories of formerly anorexic women. Her research led to an increased understanding of the process of recovery from anorexia nervosa and the specific interventions that help women achieve full recovery.

Dr. Esherick did her pre-doctoral training at Stanford University's Counseling and Psychological Services Center where she provided brief individual, couples, and group therapy, and she was a member of the eating disorders treatment team.

She has worked as a family therapist in a low-fee outpatient psychotherapy clinic and as a therapist in the Berkeley public school system. In her private practice, which she maintained part-time for five years, she worked with individuals, couples, families, and children.

Prior to earning her doctorate, Dr. Esherick received specialized training in drug and alcohol counseling through the University of California at Berkeley, and she worked as a drug and alcohol counselor in a variety of community mental health agencies. From 1996 to 2000 she worked as part of a multi-disciplinary treatment team at Thunder Road, a residential chemical dependency treatment program for adolescents. She conducted intake assessments; provided crisis intervention counseling, individual and family therapy; and she facilitated groups for adolescents, groups for parents, and multi-family groups.

Because Dr. Esherick has recently developed a passion for west coast swing dancing, her newest area of interest is sports psychology. In addition to continuing to conduct trainings related to eating disorders and chemical dependency, she now also offers trainings to dancers about mental strategies for improving performance.

Professional Memberships

American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists
American Psychological Association
California ASsociation of Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors
California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists

Teaching

Couples Counseling
Eating Disorders
MFT Professional Development
Multi-family Group Counseling
Program Evaluation